The Opening For Apple In VR

June 5, 2023 3:44 am Leave a Comment

There are a couple of key reasons I’m bullish on Apple and VR and a particular use case I think they can excel. When I say “bullish”, I mean they have some unique advantages which will make VR a better experience.

The Use Cases

The Virtual Desktop/Writers Room

Environment is essential to habit change; we know rituals are precious to get you in state for the activity you want to begin.
As a copywriter, I love working in a virtual environment that encourages flow and focus.
On the Oculus, they have the environments, they don’t have the fidelity; it is just not sharp enough to do a compelling job.

Does it need to be Retina? Not right now. By way of comparison, It needs to be as good as the first iPhone compared to the smartphone of it’s era. Looking back now, it’s jaggy compared to our current phones, but it was a revolution back then. I know there are better visual systems but not for this cable-free format.

Mindfulness and Mental Health

Meditation and mental health experiences can be compelling in these environments. Again, at this point, fidelity lets it down.

Virtual Meetings done right!

In the Oculus – you can see the potential of this – it does feel better and more fun, and the promise of whiteboarding, post-it notes and collaboration while standing in a brainstorming room will be unique. Fidelity (my word of the week) is an issue. The interface is too clunky and not intuitive at the moment.
Getting into the meeting is hard, being in the meeting is hard, and getting out of the meeting is hard.

I think Apple has some pretty mature technologies that can make this easier.

Then there is the use of a virtual keyboard and desktop (or maybe iPhone and iPad) – If they get this right – wow!

The Tech Experience

What can Apple do to elevate the VR experience? I think analysts have missed a couple of biggies.

The Screen and Sound

What is the leap I’m looking for – It is the first iPhone experience. The first iPhone screen seems jaggie and primitive. In 2007, it was an order of magnitude leap compared to what was around at the time. Can Apple do this here, compared to existing untethered VR systems? It does not have to be photo-realistic, but good enough to work on big-screen virtual desktops and not take you out of virtual experiences.

What about audio?

One of Apple’s most underrated teams is its Audio team. The sound of every product Apple makes is class-leading – Just bringing their AirPods Pro / third-generation ear pods and spatial audio will improve the VR experience. Apple get’s the importance of sound. It’s going to be good.

Leveraging FaceTime and Messenger

This is huge one. One of the things that is super annoying when you are in VR is getting pinged on your phone. Apple can use the messenger infrastructure to make this experience seamless. I’m sure they have an engaging Factime VR experience – bring on the memoji.

Leveraging Apps

If you can display and operate iPhone/iPad apps and they have a good interface, that would give them a considerable head start. This would be way more effective than apps on the mac desktop, which has not taken off.

A midway point would be having your iPhone and iPad having virtual screens in VR. You can still use them with the headset on, but instead of the headset running the app – it’s the iPhone or iPad. This tech has been advancing in the last couple of years. This would be amazing.

The Password Dilemma

A ‘little thing’ which is a HUGE pain on the Oculus. Putting in passwords (in particular long secure ones, is a nightmare). Apple has solved this problem; they already have proximity-based Apple Watch password initiation. I expect Apple to nail this version one, which will remove enormous friction in setting up a new VR headset. Same deal with VR unique apps with sister apps on other Apple devices. This feature alone will be a massive advantage for non-tech users.

The Virtual Keyboard Dilemma.

Companies have been trying to solve the issue of showing you a virtual keyboard – which is your actual keyboard on your laptop or desktop in VR. It’s still clunky – I think Apple’s ecosystem will solve this problem.
It’s particularly frustrating for non-touch typers (which I am, to my shame). I think they will have a much better solution, and they already have the tech working well between Mac/iPhone and iPad (Critics would argue – too well – when you accidentally mouse over to an iPad lying on the desk next to you by accident)

Conclusion

As I type this, Apple will reveal its headset tonight, and we will finally see what they have in mind. Seeing how many of the above are in generation one will be fun.

PS: The Price. Will they reveal it? Have they set-up the old IPad masterstroke (where they leaked the 1000-dollar price tag and bought the base level at $499)? Will $3000 be too expensive?

Here are my bets;

Price: Never bet against Apple being expensive. They will never aim to be the cheapest in a market. They price for a decent margin and deliver value. So I think $2999 is the go. This means…

Price Setup: The showman in me want’s to believe they are pulling a iPad here desperately, but Apple has never once sold a piece of hardware and aimed to make money on the backend (like, say the PlayStation or Xbox). So no, I do not think so. They needed to spend the money to make this the “iPhone” moment which was expensive. Which means…

Are they doomed because it’s too expensive: LOL, oh sweeties, that’s adorable. They will sell every-one they can make at $3000; They will sell every-one they can make at $5000. This is hilarious. The Apple ecosystem is enormous. They are the biggest company in the world. They become the number one hardware supplier in every category they have ever entered. [^1]

So here are some bonus-guaranteed things that will happen this week.

Someone will do the good old “Welcome IBM, Seriously” post.
An industry CEO will scoff and laugh at the fact they will make any headway. See Blackberry, Microsoft, Swatch
The press will go Batshit about the price.

[^1] Yes, the iPhone is the Number 1 selling phone worldwide iphone rules, other phones drool

The Surprising Career Twist For This English As A Second Language Teacher…

May 19, 2020 8:19 am Comments Off

English as a second language teachers have been hit particularly hard by the Pandemic. I was really surprised by Cameron’s pivot into an entirely new career. I asked him if I could retell his story as it could help other ESL teachers around the world.

Hi, I’m Cameron and I worked in Japan as a Business English Teacher from 2000-2008 in Toyota City, where Toyota Motor Corporation is headquartered.

I had the most wonderful experience while there; I got married to a local, we had two beautiful daughters and I met so many talented people and went to so many interesting places.

However, it was always my intention to return back to my native country of Australia, once the girls were old enough for schooling.

So, the plan was to find a job I could do in Australia that would allow me to start before I even got back but then later allow us to travel to Japan whenever we wanted for however long we wanted. After sifting through the job boards I virtually gave up on my dream but then I read my first ever ebook on something that looked perfect, placing ads on a then little search engine called Google. That was 17 years ago and I’ve never looked back.

Things have changed greatly since then, I now place ads not just on Google but also sites you may know (ha!) such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and even Bing!

Even though the technology has changed dramatically, the same principles remain:

1. Choose an Audience to Target

2. Choose Your Keywords/Placement

3. Create Your Ad

4. Choose a Landing Page to Send the Audience to

5. Review the Data and Optimize

Although I already had a business background, I found my ESL skills and knowledge gave me a greater edge over others placing ads. You see, just like teaching conversational English to students, for best results, with ads you have to adapt your language to each audience ie. those reading your ads or landing page copy. You see each audience is different, they have different levels of awareness of the product/service and are motivated to take action by different phrases and Calls to Action etc. English Teachers are always thinking of ways to say the same thing a different way and the beauty is we can split audiences and test different wording to see what works the best.

The other great thing about this industry is that you’ll never be out of a job, as there’s always new audiences, new keywords/placements and new copy to test.

OK, Sounds Great! How can I get started?

That ebook I mentioned is long out of date but if you’re looking for the most up-to-date and best training on the market I highly suggest Adskills Jumpstart program. It’s created by Online Ad Veterans to train people to be qualified as Ad Buyers. A career I think Language teachers are particularly suited for!

How do I check it out?

There is a great letter here which explains all the details of the certification and more importantly help you figure out if this is something you could be suited for. I do like the fact you can work from anywhere as a media buyer which will be really nice when travel opens up again!

Jumpstart 2.0 Media Certification Program

Also, if you end up signing up for the Jumpstart program, I will send you something which really helps me stay organized as a media buyer. When I was in Japan I learned about the Toyota production system and a really powerful time management system called Kanban. I’ll send you a copy of my Kanban for Media Buyers course which will really help you stay organized for when you get your first job as a junior ad-buyer. Send your receipt to [email protected] and I’ll send you the course!

Now You Have That Resolution Rubbish Out Of Your System…

January 15, 2020 1:30 am Leave a Comment

Let’s do something which is scientifically proven to be way more effective than resolutions and help with bushfire recovery at the same time.

Choosing a theme and a word to describe your year is very effective. When you confront a situation, remind yourself of your word and deal with it appropriately.

Simple.

Well…

Dr. Jason Fox a fellow Australian (who is way smarter than me and must be sick of every time I see him I say “What Does The Fox Say!!!) has created a course on putting some real thought and wood behind this crucial process, which does work, unlike goal setting and resolutions.

It’s brilliant and I am doing the course myself (and I bought it – you’ll understand why in a second).

So the course is $149 Australian Dollars (approximately $10 US dollars -this is wrong but it feels like it with the exchange rate at the moment!) you get this great course.

So you get to do a course which will help define your 2020 in a way which actually helps – you will be helping us with the horrific bushfires here with $50 of every sale going to bushfire recovery.

Jason – feels like he shouldn’t be telling anyone about his course right now – I told him rubbish – it’s a brilliant course and donating $50 (which in true Dr. Fox class he is showing you exactly where the raised funds are going.)

In the normal course of events – I’d be telling you about how well this course is put together and Jason’s unique (awesome) style – just wait until you read the (and I hesitate to call it this) sales letter…

So here is the non-affiliate link to get the course directly from Jason.
https://www.cleverness.com/word

Thanks heaps Jason and thank you,

Book Of The Year 2019

December 27, 2019 2:52 am Leave a Comment

The 16-Word Sales Letter™ – Evaldo Albuquerque

My book of the year is by gun Agora copywriter Evaldo Albuquerque – The 16-word sales letter is the sharpest and most concise book on copywriting this decade. Reading it makes me want to write copy immediately.

Incredibly practical, diabolically straightforward. This is a must-read for every business owner and copywriter.

By the way – if you are a copywriter and can get access to he weekly copy calls from Agora Financial where they break down a piece of copy each week is pure gold. A must for any aspiring copywriter.

I’ll be writing a lot more copy and it will be way better for this – my book of the year.

Awareness – Anthony De Mello

My runner up for book of the year – it’s been out for some time but I read it this year. It’s a spiritual book and having been raised by a hardcore hippie I have some serious triggers anytime I see a book like this.

Don’t be fooled. This book is brilliant and if more people read it and applied it what a better place this world would be. When I read it, I read a chapter each night before bed. Try it. It will open your eyes and your mind.

How To Design And Teach Workshops That Work Every Time – Rob Fitzpatrick & Devin Hunt

This book reminds me of last year’s book of the year recipient “How to take smarter notes”. This book is not big. It’s incredibly impactful, super practical. It does “What it says on the tin”.

Rob Fitzpatrick and Devan Hunt have organized and designed well over a thousand workshops and it shows. Stuff I have had to intuit is here in black and white.

It’s not all theory, It’s super in-the-field developed advice with a step by step guide to designing and building a workshop. If everyone used this – those 90-minute sleep-inducing webinars and presentations would be a thing of the past.

The reputation of webinars took a bit of a hit this year. I suspect this was because the vast majority of them are not run using a workshop design – if people are there live – it has to be interactive.

In 2019 Zoom released its breakout room technology and it works brilliantly – after reading this book you will be using breakout rooms all the time. I used it in the recipe@home course and the feedback was great.

Flip The Script – Oren Klaff

Oren’s second book and follow up to my 2012 book of the year “Pitch Anything”. Oren is such a good storyteller and teacher and his understanding of the underlying psychology of selling is second to none. Interestingly I used this exact template taught in the book this year for a sales letter. It converted at a pretty awesome 7%!

Like Pitch Anything – it doesn’t matter if you are looking to “pitch anything” – this is a book anyone can use and it has an excellent recipe for putting together any type of presentation designed to persuade.

Radicalized – Cory Doctorow

These are science fiction stories of the near future. These stories are a warning about one possible future if we keep going the way we are going. As entrepreneurs, we can be pretty focused on ourselves, our family and our team. Trouble is we do not live in isolation and to be blunt the majority of people are getting left behind and when that happens, heads roll…

Speaking of people being left behind…

The Third Pillar – Raghuram Rajan

This book explains in an easy to understand way why there is a growing gap between the have and have nots and the ramifications of this. If you want to look at this with self-interest – this is what’s happening to your customers. I hope it gets you thinking.

Turning The Flywheel – Jim Collins

Jim Collins wrote “Good To Great” book I didn’t get into because of the focus on big corporations. Turning the flywheel is a short book on the most interesting part of the “Good To Great” – establishing a self-propelling circle to grows your business. In this past decade, entrepreneurial business made the transition from the solo preener to the team. In the 2020’s it’s going to be all about the systems those teams employ.

21 lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari

I’ve read all the books by Yuval Harari and this book is the most practical for looking ahead and getting around the megatrends of the upcoming decade. Super worth a read for anybody. Key to understanding the upcoming challenges and opportunities human beings face.

Indistractable – Nir Eyal

You may have noted my “negative” tone around social media. I’m convinced Facebook is the most dangerous technical tool ever created and yet as a marketer – it’s perhaps the best thing ever. Anyway, this is not “thing which Ed thinks is the most evil of 2019 list” – it’s my favorite and most impactful books and indistractable is a brilliant addition to the parthenon of productivity books.

I’ve deliberately stepped back from Social Media this year with a view to save my creative energy for projects like the Recipe@Home and creating campaigns for clients.

This puts some science behind this decision.

Bonus – ACTIVITY OF THE YEAR – 2019

Indistractable also places wood behind one of my favorite subjects – and what I have declared “Activity Of The Year” of 2019 – Sleep.

Let me put this straight, lack of sleep is the number 1 killer of your entrepreneurial dreams. You do need to sacrifice to create a business. It’s physics.

Trouble is you are all trying to sacrifice sleep. This will never work.

I did an experiment working with 39 people just like you and I monitored them every Monday to Friday for the last six months of 2019. And lack of sleep (and the resultant lack of energy) WAS BY FAR THE NUMBER 1 FAIL FACTOR.

I have much more to say on this – but this is the most actionable finding and fixing this will give you a FORCE MULTIPLIER in 2020.

Find out how much sleep you need to wake up refreshed and make it religious in 2020 and watch everything else get better.

Why Experts Suck At Coaching – Part 1

November 13, 2019 3:16 am Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter what sport, what instrument, what hobby.

Think about the absolute legends of that activity, the best of the best and then think about the best coaches, trainers and teachers of the activity you thought of….

Notice there is NOT ONE PERSON ON THE SAME LIST.

If you come up with one let me know. If you are familiar with sports, you know there have been superstars of the game try their hand at coaching – it never works.

You see to be the best of the best, the absolute pinnacle you have gifts (genetic abnormalities) Michael Phelps and his massive feet PLUS double jointed ribs. Jimmy Hendrix had MASSIVE hands.

You can’t coach for that. (MOZART was the son of the best music teacher in Europe)

If you think about the absolute best coaches and trainers on the planet – they were never the best, they are battlers who had to work really hard and often didn’t even make the pro’s.

To continue dangerously with the sports analogy – I’m also not expecting you to coach pro’s in your field, the equivalent of a major football or soccer team.

I’m asking you to coach the equivalent of the under 9 junior soccer team. Which when you think about it amateur parents do amazing things with these teams (who can’t remember their favourite coach or music teacher – Mrs Thompson you were the best!!)

In fact, in this new video and interactive training you can prove this to yourself.
Do yourself a favour and sign up for it now here while it’s still available.

How Beginners Can Coach The Pants Off Experts.

November 10, 2019 12:45 am Leave a Comment

It doesn’t seem right – why can someone who is an enthsiast, just starting out, be a good coach. In fact, can be a better coach than someone who has been a coach for a long time, and all most certainly better than an expert.

First reason: Beginner coaches won’t be tempted to give advice, which is good!

Advice is not what beginners need.

Huh, Ed what are you smoking – well kids smoking is bad for you but let’s look at the facts.

The primo academic in the field Anders Erikson (of 10,000 hours and peak performance fame) is very clear. Beginners need drills, they need encouragement, need to be listened to.

What they don’t need is “look, here’s how I do it – it’s easy” – the type of coaching experts and old coaches with lots of experience tend to give. (Get this mirror away from me!!!!!!)

Look – I’m not having a crack at experienced coaches and experts. They are brilliant when you need advice. Once you’re established, a little tweak to a marketing funnel can bring order of magnatude results…

BUT

If you’re beginning, that little tweak is the worst thing you can possibly hear. All it does is give your inner critic the opportunity to go to town saying things like – “Look, so and so just doubled their profits with this one simple change, you can’t even get a sale, you suck.”

You know I’m right.

I was reminded of this when I was listening in on Experience Product Masterclass coaches do such a great job with their beginner students this week.

They provided support, they listened, they asked questions to help their student come up with an answer for themselves. They gently referred the student back to what the lessons (aka drills) teach. They acknowledged some of this stuff is scary and hard.

And you know what, people appreciated it and finished their call with answers and felt good about taking on the week ahead.

NONE of these traits are associated with expertise, they are associated with the type of person you are. Entrepreneurs who are motivated to serve their market are my kind of people, they are the stayers. Entrepreneurs who want to go for the lambo and Instagram penis envy account, flame out.

Being a coach is the PERFECT way to understand the market while you are developing up your one to many product which will free you from time based earning.

Let’s talk about the whole time for money being evil thing…

We have equated time to money work as being immoral for the entrepreneur…

However, to start out, extremely lucrative coaching get’s you speaking to customers, you’ll identify common issues and will be available to develop awesome solutions based on those problems.

With all the work I’ve been doing recently I’ve come to believe you personally coaching beginners in your market as your first product is an EXCELLENT and smart choice.

You just need to be taught how to properly coach. It’s a skill which is more teachable to more people than say copywriting or funnel building. Requires no more tech than being able to get on Zoom and is extremely rewarding.

Eben Pagan who is way more organised and better dressed than me has just released a free Virtual Coaching Kit. It’s brilliantly produced

I recommend downloading the Virtual Coaching Kit here now.

Next Article – I’m going to demonstrate how coaching is a learned skill you can pick up more quickly than funnels or learning how to create videos. Coaching is in “inner game skill” so you don’t have to rely on external skills (which given I suck at everything else in life may explain a thing or two – I think I need a moment)

The Difference Between Advisors And Coaches

November 8, 2019 2:12 am Leave a Comment

An advisor is someone who can give advice based on experience. They have been there, done that and got the T-Shirt.

A coach doesn’t need the experience of an advisor because they are guides to a process. When you see this working in action it really is remarkable…

🚨 CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT ALERT 🚨

Beginners in ANY field don’t need advisers they desperately need coaches.

ANY FIELD.

Let me explain…

I’ve been working along on the Experience Masterclass process and I’ve dropping in to see how my collaboration students have been going in their coaching sessions – these are not conducted by Marisa – they are handled by her team of coaches.

They are really good.

Really good.

I’ll have a lot more to say on this – but right now if you’re thinking is you have to have had massive success in your field to be a great coach…

You’re dead wrong.

Beginners in all fields need coaches more than ever.

This Training makes the case for the coaching opportunity – It’s so worth a watch.

The Virtual Coaching Opportunity Training

PS. Another controversial statement – a rank beginner coach can be way better than an expert at getting results for beginners. I’ll write more about the new science of this shortly. In the mean time – check out this training on the virtual coaching opportunity

NICHE x REACH

November 4, 2019 3:19 am Leave a Comment

I am so excited to be announcing our new Collaboration NICHE X REACH. I’ve been spending this year working out how to speak on online and offline stages to maximise my effectiveness. Working with Pat Quinn and Pete Vargas, this training has had a profound impact on me. I approached Pete about creating this collaboration with his Stage To Scale Program.

It’s a simple fact, speaking online and offline, is the fastest and most effective selling method after speaking 1 to 1.

It’s also the fastest way to collect emails – Pete and Pat showed me how to get the most emails possible. I’ve deployed this 4 times in the last couple of months and I’ve got 100% of the attendees emails from rooms and webinars.

You have zero risk and you create a product that will impact a lot of people.

The challenge for me in creating this collaboration was how could we take this amazing course and use as the foundation to build your entire business – making 2020 the year you take control.

I’m thrilled with the result. All of this is brand new and as you’ll understand – extremely limited.

Introducing the NICHE X REACH collection.

Scrum Master 2020

For the past few months I’ve been conducting an expriment with a group of very brave students. Why brave? Because each and every weekday I’m their scrum master. Every Day I ask them three key questions.

What did you do Yesterday?
What are you going to do Today?
Is there anything which will stop you doing what you planned to deliver this week.

In this collaboration you are going to create an amazing experience based product. My Job will be to work with you Monday To Friday for 2020 to roll out your new product, build your list and make sure you are building an awesome foundation.

If I see an issue with you executing on your strategy, I’ll be their to help you. Accountability is a vital part of peak performance. Here’s the thing I relised. You are a SOLOpreneur, you don’t have a team yet. You are stepping up to make a better future for yourself, your family and your community.

The thing I know about you is how you are the goto person in all the other ares of your life – you are reliable and relied upon.

Except….

When it comes to your new business. It’s a bit like you say to your kids, i’ll pick you up after school each day this week and then you only show up twice.

You plan on working on your new business five times this week, but you know, stuff…

I’ll be your scrum master and make sure you execute on your dream.

To make sure you build a business out of the awesome product you’ll build with Pat and Pete. I’m going to do a personal consultation with you using the amazing Lean Canvas approach…

A Step By Step Plan Using An Awesome New System

I’m going to meet with you early in the process so I understand what you are building, we will identify the riskyiest assumptions and design specific experiments to validate your approach.

To do this I’ve arrange free access to the Lean Canvas tool set so I can work with you individually to make sure we know exactly what your go-to market strategy is and more importantly, the exact steps we need to prove traction in your business.

I can’t wait to take you through this. By the way – when I say, “I can’t wait”, I mean me – not my team, not a coach. I believe in this collaberation – I’ll be working personally with you. It does mean it will be limited. To keep things fair the collabs 100 indivdual units will be on a strict first come first served basis.

What’s The Hardest Part – Getting Your First Gig. I’ll give you your First Stage

I’m running a Virtual Summit next year – If you invest in this collaboration I’ll guarantee you a slot in my summit (That’s how good this training is) We’ll record it, get it professionally transcribed and you’ll be able to use this as your sizzle really to get you going. Getting your first break by getting your first successful stage is the key.

So I’ll give it to you.

You’ll be able to use this exposure to get yourself on other stages and more importantly promote the new cool thing you just built. But that’s not all…

I will also feature you and your story on my podcast.

Let’s Get You Published

Along with the podcast – I’ll also feature you on the Your First Dollar blog. Providing valuable links and helping you land other stories and promotions. Which is cool, but the best bit…

I’ll Mail Your Finished Product

I’ll mail my list about your newly launched product. If I get enough notice I’ll mail during your launch window if you choose to roll out using a launch recipe. Now, I do have sole approval over what’s promoted. I hope you understand I can’t mail for your new vape which cures a whole host of diseases. Let’s use common sense here.

Fast Mover – 5 “Phone Your Friends”

If you sign up by the end of the first day of Pete’s launch. I’ll also add five consulting calls you can use anytime in 2020. Just let me know and I’ll send you my calendar. If you want to look at strategy or brainstorm marketing just let me know.

In creating this collaboration, We wanted to make sure what we bought to the table was designed to enhance every aspect of Pete’s amazing product (The same one I did myself)

I’m not going to insult your intelligence by putting a dollar value on this collaberation. You know how much it would cost to hire someone like me to check on your business every working day to make sure you are always on course.

You know how much people pay me to develop a personalised step by step go to market plan – designed to get traction in your chosen market as Fast, as cheaply and as safely as possible…

You know how important it is to have a big name on board for your first launch…

Every element of this collaboration is here to give you the best possible start for your incredible new product.

Because I’m such a believer in Pete’s incredible work. I’ll provide a copy of the collaberation edition to the first 100 people who buy Pete’s new course using my link. You can check with Pete’s support team after you have purchased to make sure your purchases was from my collaboration link and you qualify for 1 of the 100 exclusive units.

Use this link to ensure you get access to the collaboration

The Tragedy Of Picking The Wrong Recipe For Your New Business

August 14, 2019 8:39 am Leave a Comment

If you’ve never cooked a dish in your life successfully, in fact, you may have failed to produce a dish many times.

You’d be pretty silly to attempt a fancy meal, let’s just go with some scrambled eggs and some really specific instructions. You’d probably want to watch a video of every step.

Particularly, after all those failures.

Makes sense.

Then why in the living dickens do people a pick super vague plans with very little instruction to get their business going!!!

Just this week, I’ve been working with a client who refuses to pick a specific recipe and every time I think I have them locked down. The next thing I know they are freestyling, bringing elements of other courses in.

It’s like you’re told to cook a sponge cake and half way through you start adding elements of a lobster bisque.

Anyway this week I had to get quiet stern and said “You have 24 hours to pick a specific plan” suitable for where you are.

I was not specific enough.

The plan they came back with was “A Challenge Style” plan. Cool, I thought, I know they work (I’m to modest to point out I invented the concept of an online Challenge 14 years ago)

Then I looked at the plan they had chosen. It was a power point presentation with dot points on it and a 90 minute webinar.

It was so high level it may as well have been the classic:

Build Web Site
Advertise
PROFIT!!

Look, with the information in the plan I could have created a Challenge with those instructions. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and started dozens of successful products and services.

You can give a Master Chef a beetroot, bacon, butter, salt and a lemon and they’ll be able to create something edible.

Someone who’s never cooked before – I don’t even want to think!

Yet every day, enthusiastic entrepreneurs clutch hold of these “blueprints” thinking they can build the business of their dreams. No wonder they fail so miserably.

Pick A Recipe Right For You.

Here are some guidelines for picking a recipe suitable for you to put the effort into building a business with.

Evidence Of Success

Of course, almost every plan and course out there has testimonials and proof it works. As they should.

BUT!

What’s the skill level of the people who were successful – are they absolute beginners with no list and no prior online experience?

The plan my student bought to me had examples of successful challenges. The problem was every single one of them had at least a couple of years of market leadership building in their market, they had teams and major successful businesses behind them.

It’s not the plans are bad – they’re great as long as you had put in the years building your market influence.

When Picking A Recipe – Consider These Four Crucial Things…

Your Experience Level
Your comfort with Technology
your comfort with Generating Traffic
Are you starting out in a market or have you already built a successful crowd

You may have been studying building an online business for a decade. But unless you have successfully had people pay you money. You need to keep your experience in perspective.

Now, I believe you can take any plan and turn it into a recipe you can execute with confidence. I teach this process in my course “The Recipe” . I’ll describe the process in an upcoming post.

It’s hard to build an online business, it breaks my heart when I see enthusiastic solopreneur, get confused, overwhelmed and eventually wash out because they have chosen a recipe above their skill to serve.

Is the recipe and ingredient’s in the use by date?

You would not want to create a recipe with out of date ingredients. You certainly would not want to do a course with out of date tactics. this is particularly important for online business strategies.

Many (and I’ve created more than a few) were based on opportunities which existed for that particular time and would not be relevant now.

Choose your recipe with eyes wide open and you’ll give yourself the best chance of success.

The Pressure Of Accountability

8:24 am Leave a Comment

Ignorance is bliss.

I just finished the first week with my team for Project 2020. I’ve genuinely enjoyed being their Scrum Master and it’s fascinating to see what issues are coming up.

My mentor Dr. Michael Hewitt-Gleeson ( who got his doctorate on selling under Dr. Edward DeBono) has a great story in his presentation on sales people.

He says it’s much easier for a salesperson to tell their manager they haven’t been able to speak to the client (and actively avoid doing so) to get a decision.

If they actually tell the Sales Manager they did not get the deal. They feel the pain (literal pain if their manager is like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glennross) from the sales manager and the disappointment they feel of failure to close the deal.

So it’s much easier to keep the (false) hope of avoiding the client and hoping the deal is still alive.

It never is.

Michael jokes this is why movie theatres are open during the day. It’s for all the salespeople who are avoiding their clients.

I knew I’d have to be vigilant early in this process (which is not my natural state!) early on in this process to set the tone. The fish rots from the head and all that.

It will be easier for my solopreneurs to not report than submit in a daily standup of disappointment. This will of course defeat the purpose of the project.

By reporting on their daily issues, I can actually jump in right away to help them with their issue with a well placed question. If they can just accept the process of reporting in and realising they are not submitting below-par homework. We can really start to move forward.

I’m loving doing stand ups through Slack. The ability for my ScrumStyle team to report in their Timezone instead of someone drawing the short straw and having to stay up late or ridiculously early.

It’s early days – but so far so good

Thirty Days One Dollar

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